At times genuinely dark and unsettling, seventh album The Dreadful Hours was perhaps the band's most bleak release to date, perfectly commencing with the sombre & threatening (& fan favourite) title track. Aaron Stainthorpe's fragile narrative gives way to ferocious growls, setting the tone for the album's dynamic waltz between longing and malevolence, and once more backed up by a relentless wall of masterful doom riffing aided by dramatic keyboard atmospherics.

The Dreadful Hours is still rightly hailed as being among the band's finest works to date since its 2001 release. The album was recorded at Academy Studios in West Yorkshire UK, with long-time producer Mags at the helm. The album artwork was also created by frontman Aaron Stainthorpe.